Former President Donald Trump urged the closure of the MSNBC news channel during an evening tirade on Truth Social.
Following news that CNN intends to reduce its workforce by hundreds amid a ratings downturn, Trump posted on his social media platform: “MSDNC is worse than CNN. They don’t deserve to air — Only in America!”
This was an evident jab at MSNBC, with “MSDNC” merging the Democratic National Committee’s DNC acronym with the left-leaning network’s name. The phrase “Only in America” suggests… the context is unclear. Likely not a nod to Don King.
After experiencing a ratings decline post-Trump’s re-election triumph in November, MSNBC rebounded in early January to rank as the third most-viewed basic cable station during primetime, reported Adweek. Many of its hosts frequently criticize Trump.
The Daily Beast has contacted MSNBC for a response.
Trump’s remarks followed less than three months after he stated that CBS should forfeit its broadcasting rights due to its 60 Minutes segment featuring his electoral rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris. He is presently attempting to litigate against that network.
In October, the president criticized CBS for omitting roughly 75 seconds from Harris’s lengthy response regarding Israel during the original airing. The network eventually released the unedited segment on its YouTube channel.
Trump—who declined to participate in 60 Minutes at all—labeled it an “UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL” and a “FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is entirely illegal.”
“REVOKE CBS’S LICENSE,” he stated on Truth Social at that time.
He subsequently launched a $10 billion lawsuit in Texas against CBS, alleging “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and significant news distortion.” The network countered that the interview was shortened for time constraints, asserting that any allegations of “nefarious” actions were “completely baseless.”
Given that Trump ultimately won the election, it remains ambiguous how he justifies a claim for $10 billion in actual damages.
Still, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, has considered settling the lawsuit in light of its plans to merge with Skydance Media—a deal that requires approval from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Incoming FCC Chair Brendan Carr has cautioned Paramount executives that Trump’s disapproval of CBS could complicate the merger evaluation more than they had anticipated, as reported by the Journal.
This situation raises valid questions about the extent of Trump’s campaign against the unfavorable MSNBC.
